Contents of the SSCAN.DOC file

DESCRIPTION: SuperSCAN displays all sequences of contiguous ASCII characters from any disk file -- fast. The program displays all ASCII strings of 3 or more characters, although you can change this from the command line. The scan can be written to a disk file, printed, or displayed on the screen. You can also skip into the file any number of characters before beginning the scan. Each ASCII string is terminated with a hex AE (European left quote mark), although you can change this from the command line. You can also define any characters you wish to be considered NON-ASCII.

The program accepts either a filespec with wild cards or a directory list file -- a file that is composed of a redirected DIR command (e.g., DIR *.DOC >DIRLIST).

1. "filespec" can be preceded by a drive letter and a path name. It can also contain wild cards.

2. "dirlist" is the name of a directory list file, i.e., a file that has been created from a redirected DIR command. For example, the DOS command

dir *.txt >dirfile

will create a disk file named "dirfile" which contains a directory of all files with a ".TXT" extension.

3. "ext" is the extension the output file name will have. If you don't specify an extension name, CON (the screen console) will be used. You may also use the device names PRN, NUL, and AUX, in which case the output will be sent to one of those devices.

Example: C>sscan hgi.com str -t00 ...will scan HGI.COM for strings consisting of three or more consecutive ASCII characters and write them to a file named HGI.STR with no terminator character (except for carriage return/line feed).

4. The -c### option sets the minimum number of ASCII characters in a row to display. The default is 3. Values can range from 0 to 32767. For example, -c2 will display all ASCII strings of 2 or more characters.

5. The -s### option indicates the number of characters in the file to skip before scanning starts. The default is 0. Values can range from 0 to 2,000,000,000. For example, -s55000 will skip over 55,000 characters before looking for ASCII strings. If the value you enter is larger than the file size, SuperSCAN will consider that to be the same as the end of file.

6. The -t## option defines a hex value for the line terminator character (which precedes a carriage return/line feed). The default is AE. Values can range from 00 to FF. -t00 will disable the terminator character and use only the CRLF. A visible terminator character is useful when an ASCII string contains trailing spaces.

7. The -n##,...## option establishes the hex values of characters you want to define as NON-ASCII types (even if they are valid ASCII characters). Each hex value is separated by a comma; you can enter as many hex values as you wish. SuperSCAN normally considers character values in the range of hex 20 (space) through hex 7E (tilde) to be valid ASCII characters, but you might wish to remove certain punctuation from consideration as ASCII characters.

Example: C>sscan hgi.com -n40,21,3c,3e,5e ...will display on screen the ASCII strings in the file HGI.COM, but the characters @,!,, and ^ will be considered NON-ASCII.

8. The -od:path option will create the output file on the specified drive and directory.

Example: C>sscan hgi.com str -t00 -od:\data ...will perform the same scan as the earlier example, except it will write the output file HGI.STR to drive D: in subdirectory \DATA.

CTRL-NumLock (or Pause) will stop and start the program; CTRL-C will cancel it.

NOTES: A single ASCII string has a limit of 16,384 characters. Strings longer than this will be displayed separately.

The program was written in Lattice C 3.1.

MACHINE: The program will run on any MS-DOS compatible computer using MS-DOS 2.x or higher, with a minimum of 128K RAM.

DISCLAIMER: This program is distributed as user-supported software. Use it, copy it, give it to your friends. No warranties, either expressed or implied, are given by the author or distributor of the program, and the user accepts all risk of damage arising out of the application and use of the program.

BEG: If you find this program to be of value, contributions in any amount ($10 suggested) will be gratefully accepted. If you decide not to contribute, at least upload this file to as many BBSes as you can log on to.

PC-ROCKLAND BBS If you can't find a program here, it probably doesn't exist! (914) 353-2538 (Leave msg. for "Tom Lundin")

Thank you for using SuperSCAN.

CATALOG: Other shareware programs I've distributed:

SBREAK.EXE: SuperBreaker What I call the world's best file splitting program -- splits files by size, string match, line count; converts fixed-length data files to CRLF-terminated text files; can split files to floppy diskettes; splits binary or text files; files split to size can also be split at the next nearest user-definable string (e.g. CRLF); other features. You can use this program to split a really big .ARC file onto multiple floppies and then easily reconstruct it on a different computer.

COPPY.EXE This program copies files from the hard disk to multiple floppies, stuffing each floppy with the largest files that will fit in the remaining space. Works with any density diskette. The program tells you how many diskettes you'll need to complete the copy. You can also copy files in original, unsorted order; other options allow the target disk to be erased before file transfer begins, and the source file can be deleted from the hard disk after it is copied to the floppy. You can use this program to move (copy-and-delete) files between drives and subdirectories on your hard disk, too.

MOPP.EXE This program copies from source to destination, except it will only overwrite existing files if the source file date is more recent than the destination file date. This prevents old versions of programs, documents, etc. from accidentally wiping out more recent ones. Options let you force a prompt for each overwrite, or to overwrite unconditionally.

SNR.EXE: Search-N-Replace This is a multi-string, global file search-and-replace program. It allows you to create up to 50 search-and-replace equations of up to 140 characters each. You can search for and replace all text and binary characters (except NULL). All translations occur in a single pass. This program is very handy for making fast, easy, global changes to the contents of a disk file (or group of files).

CCUR.EXE: The Counting Cursor This program uses your cursor as a counting device, allowing you to count the number of characters between two points on the screen simply by moving the cursor. These width counts can be written to a disk file for use in other programs. CCUR will also record row-column screen coordinates if you choose. The HEX and ASCII decimal values of the character under the cursor are displayed, giving you a fast way to identify those control and graphic characters by code value. An on-demand screen blanker is built-in. A screen capture command is provided, allowing you to capture the display to any disk file or DOS device (yes, the printer, too). This is a handy program for you database file hackers.

If you are interested in any of these programs, check your local BBS or call me or drop me a note at my work address.